LL.M. & Certificate FAQs
The LL.M. (Master of Laws) is a degree in law for individuals who have already received a first degree in law (either the J.D. in the United States, or the equivalent from another country).
LL.M. is Latin for Legum Magister, signifying Master of Laws. In Latin abbreviations, the plural form of a word is indicated by doubling the letter – hence the “LL.” is short for Laws. The word “legum” is the possessive plural form of the Latin word lex that means specific laws. When used in the plural, it signifies a specific body of laws, as opposed to the general collective concept embodied in the word “Jus,” from which the word “Juris” and our modern English word “Justice” derive. In the feminine, i.e., for a female student, the expression is Legum Magistra.
Each year Georgetown Law enrolls approximately 300 to 400 LL.M. students from approximately 50 countries and over 40 U.S. states and territories. Roughly half of these students are educated outside the U.S. and the other half have a J.D. degree from a law school in the United States.
The programs with the largest number of foreign trained students are General Studies, International Business & Economic Law and International Legal Studies. The program with the largest number of U.S. trained students is the LL.M. in Taxation.
Please view our curriculum guide for questions related to program credits.
Students pursuing the LL.M. on a full-time basis complete the program within two semesters, starting the last week of August and graduating in mid-May. Students pursuing the program on a part-time basis must complete the program within three years of matriculation. Please note that foreign-educated students typically enroll on a full-time basis unless they are in the United States on a visa status that permits part-time study.
The tuition rate tends to increase slightly each year. Our Financial Aid Office publishes the tuition and cost of attendance for the current year on its webpage.
The program of instruction in the full-time program is a demanding one, designed to command most of the student’s time during the academic year. Experience indicates that a student cannot successfully carry a full-time course load if substantially employed in an outside job. The Law Center strongly recommends that students enrolling in the full-time program be in a position to devote most of their working hours to the study of law. Note: International students in F-1 or J-1 student visa status are very restricted with respect to on- and off-campus employment, and must have work authorization in place before beginning off-campus employment. Students must contact their International Student Advisor at lawcentervisa@georgetown.edu for such authorization. All students on a practice-oriented LL.M. degree track must have the proper employment authorization in advance of starting their externship, practicum, or workshop.
If you are interested in changing your status after having received your letter of admission please send an email to lawllmadmis@georgetown.edu detailing the reasons for your request. The Office of Graduate Admissions will review your request and provide an answer in a timely fashion. Changes between full-time and part-time status once enrolled in the program must be discussed with and approved by the student’s Program Director.
No. LL.M. students cannot be admitted as transfer students to the J.D. program. Foreign-trained LL.M. students interested in earning a J.D. must apply directly to the J.D. program as a new applicant, and must take the LSAT. However, students who graduated from Georgetown’s LL.M. program who apply and are admitted to the J.D. program may be able to apply up to 12 credits of their LL.M. coursework toward the J.D.
No. Candidacy for the S.J.D. program is competitive, and does not follow automatically from admission to the LL.M. program.
Yes. Georgetown Law offers a comprehensive selection of graduate level law courses on a non-degree basis for lawyers who wish to deepen or broaden their legal knowledge without enrolling in an LL.M. degree program. Lawyers may do so by taking courses on a space-available basis. Note that the application for the Non-Degree program is handled by the Office of the Registrar.
The majority of our Certificates of Specialization require completion of 10 credits, which also count towards the completion of the required number of LL.M. credits.
No. When a Certificate is combined with an LL.M. degree program, the courses taken to meet the Certificate requirements are part of the courses taken to earn the LL.M. Therefore, you do not take “extra” credits if you combine a Certificate with your LL.M.
No. Applicants may apply to only one Certificate program.
Yes, but not always. With careful planning, foreign-educated students who want to pursue a Certificate and an LL.M. degree will be eligible to sit for the New York Bar. Typically, students must pursue one of the more flexible degree options (such as the General LL.M.) in order to meet both the Certificate requirements and the New York Bar eligibility requirements. Students pursuing more specialized degrees may have difficulty satisfying the requirements for everything at once. Admitted students are encouraged to discuss their options with their academic advisor before choosing their classes; applicants should not worry too much about this during the application process.
Yes. The Admissions Committee reviews files on a rolling basis and makes offers throughout the admissions cycle. Therefore, it is to your advantage to submit your application as early as possible within each admissions cycle, while the greatest number of spaces are still available.
The Graduate Admissions Committee issues decisions on Early Action files within four weeks after the deadline. For applications completed by the Priority deadline, the Committee aims to extend decisions within 6-10 weeks of the date the application is complete.
No. Applicants should choose one LL.M. degree program when they apply.
To be considered for a program change, after receiving your letter of admission, you should send an email to lawllmadmis@georgetown.edu detailing the reasons for your request. In certain circumstances you may be asked to submit a new personal statement. The Admissions Committee will then re-review your application for the other program.
No. Our Graduate Early Action option is non-binding. Students admitted Early Action will have until the same date as Regular Action admitted students to decide whether or not to attend Georgetown.
Candidates who did not receive an offer of admission may choose to reapply for admission in a later term. Although it is likely that an applicant will receive the same decision, in some cases applicants may receive a different determination because new or additional information is provided, or because the application is submitted earlier in the admissions cycle than in the prior year. If you are reapplying in the next cycle, please select the “Reapplicant” option on the application form.
No. Georgetown does not use numerical cutoffs. However, candidates with strong academic and personal credentials are encouraged to apply. For applicants to specialized degree programs, grades in relevant courses are a factor. The Graduate Admissions Committee weighs non-quantifiable information to distinguish between applicants with similarly strong academic credentials, although personal information alone is seldom sufficient as a substitute for a strong academic record.
We require two letters of recommendation and do not recommend submitting more than three. These letters may come from former professors, previous supervisors or other individuals for whom you have worked. The most important thing is that the recommender be someone that has direct knowledge of your work product, ethic and potential for success in the program and in the future.
We do not have any specific formatting requirements, nor word or page minimums, for your personal statement. However, please keep in mind that the admissions committee will review thousands of personal statements. Therefore, getting your message across in a concise manner will be to your advantage.
Georgetown Law will accept TOEFL and IELTS scores which were taken within two years before the date of your LL.M. application submission.
You will not be penalized if you choose not to do the interview. We strongly encourage applicants to do the interview to help the Admissions Committee to get a fuller picture of your readiness for the LL.M. program at Georgetown. In some cases, the Committee may specifically request that an applicant complete the interview if the Committee feels it needs more information before making a final decision.
Fee waivers are available for current Georgetown J.D. students applying to the joint J.D./LL.M., current Georgetown LL.M. students applying for a second LL.M., students who are studying at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, and individuals applying through established institutional partnerships. Occasionally, fee waiver invitations may be sent to individuals who have attended particular recruiting events.
Georgetown Law does not award LL.M. credit for courses taken at another institution before matriculation at Georgetown Law. However, upon prior approval of the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, and subject to certain restrictions, a cumulative maximum of 4 academic credits earned at other institutions while the student is an LL.M. student at Georgetown Law may be applied to the LL.M. degree.
Students who received their J.D. degree from Georgetown Law within 3 years of matriculating in an LL.M. degree program may apply up to 6 academic credits earned while a J.D. student, provided those credits were in excess of the 85 credits required for the J.D. degree. For part-time students, the maximum period of study allowed will be reduced by one semester if 4 or more credits are applied.
Students admitted to an LL.M. degree program at Georgetown Law may apply up to 8 non-degree academic credits that were earned at Georgetown Law within 2 academic years prior to matriculation in the degree program. The courses and grades will be entered on the transcript; the grades for those courses will be included in the computation of the LL.M. grade point average. For part-time students, the maximum period of study allowed for the degree will be reduced by one semester if 4 or more credits of advanced standing are applied.
Yes. Located in the Office of Graduate Programs, the Office of Graduate Careers team serves as a valuable resource for LL.M. and Certificate students. For more information about the Office of Graduate Careers team, externships, interview programs and all other career related questions please visit the Office of Graduate Careers Webpage.
Many of our LL.M. students who received their first degree in law in a foreign country choose to take a U.S. bar exam, usually the New York bar exam, upon completion of their LL.M. Your academic advisor will work with you to help you select the courses needed to qualify for the bar exam, as part of designing your overall course of study.